Guard and guide for well pump and motor assembly



July 8, 1958 J. A. BRENNER 2,842,061

GUARD AND GUIDE FOR WELL PUMP AND MOTOR ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 8, 1957 3a 30 3e as 44 121' INVENTOR. I JbSf'Pfl A. DRE/mix I #530 I BY ATTORNY United States Patent GUARD AND GUIDE FOR WELL PUMP AND MOTOR ASSEMBLY Joseph A. Brenner, Hanover, Pa.

Application February 8, 1957, Serial No. 638,994

8 Claims. (Cl. 103-87) This invention relates to a guard and guide for a well pump and motor assembly, and more particularly to a flexible guard and guide connectable to a pump and motor assembly for a well, the pump and motor assembly being supported upon the end of flexible piping or tubing so as to be positioned below the water level in a well shaft.

The present invention comprises an improvement over the guard and guide described and claimed in applicants prior Patent No. 2,730,959, dated January 17, 1956.

For many years, it was customary to use rigid metallic pipe in wells particularly for domestic water consumption. Pumps were located at ground level and in some instances, a foot valve or the like was submerged within the water in the lower portions of the well, said foot valve being connected to the lower end of the rigid metal pipe. The rigidity of said pipe offered a benefit to the extent that a string of pipe and pump equipment when being inserted into a well casing or well shaft could be guided reasonably well. In other types of installation, especially where a submerged pump and shielded electric motor unit were attached to the end of a rigid metal pipe for insertion into a well shaft for disposition of the pump and motor unit below the Water level in said shaft, the rigid connection of the pump and motor unit to the lower end of the rigid pipe prevented rotation of the pump and motor unit relative to the well shaft.

In recent years, the use of flexible or so-called plastic piping or tubing has come into wide use in water wells. Such flexible tubing offers a number of advantages over conventional rigid metal pipe, among these being the fact that tubing of very long continuous uses is available so as not to require joints between sections thereof for example, and said tubing is non-corrosive and has a useful life of many years Such flexible tubing may be lowered into a well casing or shaft from a coil thereof. However, while the foregoing virtues and others have led to Wide use of acceptance of such flexible tubing, it nevertheless has certain undesirable properties, the principal of which is that it affords substantially no guiding thereof while being inserted into a well casing or shaft and difficulty sometimes results therefrom. For example, valves, strainers and the like secured to the lower end of the flexible tubing sometimes encounter projections and obstructions in a well shaft which results in injury to these items on the tubing. Further, particularly when flexible tubing of this nature is used to support a'submersible pump and electric motor unit connected to the lower end of the tubing, the torque developed by said motor has been found on certain occasions to be sufficient to twist the flexible tubing and such twisting in certain situations has resulted in the tubing actually being twisted into a closed condition, whereby it was not possible to pump 2,842,061 Patented July 8, 1958 vide a guard and guide which may be clamped to items of a complete pump and flexible tubing assembly, the guard and guide being clamped preferably to the lowermost item on such an assembly and the guard and guide is provided with flexible fingers which readily conform to irregularities and difference in diameters in a well shaft so as to frictionally engage the walls of a well shaft for the purpose of protecting the guarded elements from engagement with such walls and also to prevent relative rotation between said walls and the element to which the guard and guide is clamped.

Another object of the invention is to provide sharp, knife-like means upon said guard and guide so as to permit the fingers of said guard and guide to bite into the walls of a well shaft, thereby insuring that no appreciable rotation will take place between said walls and the guard and guide, as well as any element to which it is clamped, about the axis of the well shaft.

Still another object of the invention is to form said guard and guide preferably from relatively inexpensive strap-like metal strips which are flexible and, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, non-corrosive, whereby said guard and guide may be clamped to an element of a pump assembly selected from a reasonable range of sizes of diameter and the longitudinally extending fingers of the guard and guide are shaped so as normally to be spaced laterally from the sides of a pump assembly element enclosed therein, the outward lateral spacings of said fingers from the axis of the guard and guide being substantial so as to permit accommodation of pump assembly elements therein of a reasonable range of different diameters and lengths.

One further object of the invention is to provide a guard and guide of the type referred to which is extremely simple to install, yet is fool-proof in operation and rugged so as to be capable of use for long periods of time in a well. I

Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention, as well as other objects thereof, are set forth in the fol lowing specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing comprising a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a foreshortened side elevationillustrating an exemplary pump and motor unit connected to the lower end of a flexible tube and disposed in the lower portion of a well shaft, this view illustrating the preferred embodiment of the present invention connected to the lower most element of said assembly and engaging the walls of the well casing in operative condition.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the lower portion of the assembly shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating particularly the details of the guard and guide comprising the present invention connected to the lowermost pump assembly element illustrated in substantially complete manner in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the assembly shown in Fig. 2 and illustrating particularly the manner in which the fingers of the guard and guide of the invention frictionally engage the walls of a well shaft.

For purposes of facilitating and understanding of the operation of the present invention, there has been illusmeans which dig and cut throughsoil, rock, clay and the like to form a more or less cylindrical shaft. It also is customary to insert usually a metallic casing 12 in the upper portion of the shaft 10 for various lengths, depending upon the location of the well and its possible proximity. to contaminating sources such as cesspools, septic tanks, and the like. Such well casing 12 may extend downward from the top of the well shaft a distance of 25 feet or more so as to prevent socalled surface drainage from running into the well shaft. However, the shaft usually extends a number of feet below the lower end of the well casing 12 and underground streams of water flow into usually the lower portion of the shaft it).

During the operation of drilling a well shaft, it frequently is necessary, upon encountering much stone or rock particularly, to sharpen the drilling bit a number of times. Each time the bit is sharpened, it is made a little smaller and, as the result of this, the diameter of the well shaft at the bottom thereof will be noticeably smaller than the diameter near the top of the well shaft. The amount of decrease in diameter usually will depend upon how much the bit is sharpened and the depth of the well shaft. However, this decreasing in the diameter of the well shaft toward its lower end presents difficulties in the use of guards and guides attached to the lower terminal end of a flexible tube or pipe 14 as illustrated in exemplary manner in Fig. 1. That is, if a guard or guide having rigid arms or fingers is used, and a suificient constriction in the well shaft is encountered, or an obstruction is engaged by the guard and guide, further lowering of the pump assembly on the end of the flexible pipe for example is at least retarded and sometimes is stopped. Such lowering usually takes place by gravity alone and the flexibility of the pipe 14 does not permit pushing the assembly downward into the well casing. Such a difficulty has been encountered on certain occasions when attempting to use the rigid guard and guide of the type illustrated in applicants prior Patent No. 2,730,959. Hence, the present invention was conceived to provide a guard and guide which was capable of more universal use than that illustrated in said prior patent.

Although the present invention illustrates applicants new guard and guide 16 clamped to the lower end of a submerged pump and motor unit, it is to be understood that such illustration is only exemplary and is not intended to be restrictive in any way. This selected illustration is primarily for purposes of showing the construction and manner of operation of the guard and guide 16 comprising the present invention.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the lower end of the flexible pipe 14 is connected by clamps 18 to an adaptor fitting 20 which is threadably connected to the upper end of a submersible pump 22. A circular screen or strainer 24 extends downwardly from pump 22 so as to prevent extraneous matter which may occur in the well waters 26 from entering the pump.

The assembly illustrated herein also includes a waterproof casing 28 of commercial type which encloses an electric motor, not illustrated, the casing 28 illustrated herein being cylindrical in shape. Said casing is suitably connected to the lower end of pump 22 by means which extend upwardly through the circular screen 24 but are not shown in the figure since they are of conventional commercial type. It is to be understood that the pump 22 and the motor within casing 28 comprise a connected unit which, in present day practice, are lowered into the lower portion of the well shaft 10 so that when the motor is activated, the pump 22 will draw water through the circular screen 24 and pump the same upwardly through the flexible pipe 14. It also is to be understood that water-proof electrical conduits extend from the motor within motor casing 28 upward to the top of the well in accordance with conventional practice by using conventional commercial means for securing the electrical conduits to the pump and pipe assembly.

While most forms of flexible or plastic tubing or pipe such as illustrated at 14 herein are durable and capable of sustaining adequately the tensile stresses imposed thereupon by pump equipment and the like connected to the lower end thereof, said tubing or pipe usually is formed from relatively pliable synthetic material of which polyethylene is one example. This type of material, while possessing all of the attributes enumerated above, nevertheless is quite flexible and not only does not permit any guiding or directing of the pump or other equipment connected to the lower end thereof while being lowered into a well shaft, but such pipe or tubing also does not adequately resist axial twisting under certain circumstances where, for example, in certain sizes of well the torque produced by the submerged electric motor in driving the submerged pump overcomes any inherent resistance in the flexible pipe or tubing to axial twisting, whereby the tubing is twisted to such an extent that its effective passage area is decreased to such an extent that either inadequate water amounts are pumped or, as in certain known examples, the water flow has been substantially stopped entirely.

The foregoing difliculties are overcome by using a guard and guide embodying the principles of the present invention as illustrated and described herein. The exemplary guard and guide comprising the present invention includes a flexible split band 36, the ends of which are provided with any suitable clamping means such as a pair of radially extending ears 32 through which a clamping bolt 34 extends. Preferably, the clamping band 30 may be formed from stainless steel strip material or other non-corrosive material and the same is formed preferably into a circular shape inasmuch as the majority of pump unit items to which the same will be clamped are circular in cross-section. Certain synthetic resins also are suitable for this purpose.

It will be seen from Figs. 1 and 2 that the band 30 is clamped securely to a portion of the pump assembly comprising the casing 28 for the motor of the exemplary assembly illustrated in Fig. l, but it is to be understood that such illustration is not restrictive to the guard and guide of the present invention being clamped only to said elements. Also, if desired, the element to which the band 30 of the guard and guide 16 is clamped may be provided with an annular shoulder 36 against which one edge of the band 30 abuts to render the clamping action more effective.

The guard and guide 16 also includes a plurality of flexible fingers 38, more than two in number, these'fingers extending longitudinally of the guard and guide as well as of the axis of the pump unit to which it is shown connected. The normally upper ends of the flexible fingers 38 are connected at circumferentially spaced locations to the band 30 by any suitable means such as spot welding or rivets 40. If made from resin, the entire assembly maybe molded as an integral unit. Said upper ends of fingers 38 then extend downwardly and outwardly so as to dispose the intermediate portions 42 in laterally spaced relationship to any element of the pump assembly, for example, to which the guard and guide may be clamped. The lower ends of the fingers 38 extend inwardly at an angle into meeting relationship as clearly shown in Fig. 2, said lower ends being connected together at a common point by any suitable means such as a bolt or rivet 44.

The flexible fingers 38 may be formed from material similar to that from which clamping band 30 is formed and, while said fingers possess reasonable stifiness, they nevertheless are flexible, whereby the intermediate portions 42 thereof may simultaneously engage circumferentially spaced surface portions of the walls of the well shaft 10 as clearly shown in Fig. 3. This will occur regardless of variations in diameter of the walls of the shaft 10 or irregularities in the surfaces of said walls. The flexibility of the fingers 38 is such that said intermediate portions 42 are permitted to slidably adapt themselves to the wall surfaces of shaft 10 while the pump assembly for example is being lowered into the shaft 10 and no stoppage in such lowering operation usually is encountered as has been the experience on certain occasions when using applicants prior rigid type guard and guide as illustrated in the aforementioned prior patent.

It will be seen particularly from Figs. 1 and 2 that the lower ends of the fingers 38 are bent into a configuration to form a somewhat pointed leading end for the entire assembly being lowered into the well shaft 10, thereby facilitating such lowering of the assembly into the position where the pump is to operate.

Not only do the upper and lower portions of the fingers 38 permit flexible radial movement of the intermediate portions 42 of the fingers in adapting the guard and guide to the surfaces of the well shaft but said upper and lower portions of the fingers also resiliently urge said intermediate portions 42 radially outward into firm engagement with the wall surfaces of shaft 10 so as to frictionally engage the same and resist any tendency of the torque developed by the motor in casing 28, for example, to rotate the pump, motor, or guard and guide relative to the walls of the shaft 10 about the axis thereof.

To further facilitate the gripping action of the intermediate portions. 42 of the fingers with the wall surfaces of shaft 10, said intermediate portions 42, which preferably are substantially parallel to each other when in inoperative position for at least a short portion of the length thereof, are provided with knife-like means extending longitudinally of said portions. Such knifelike means may, for example, comprise the opposite sharp edges of fingers formed from flat stock, or stock having a projecting sharp rib may be used. Another convenient form comprises forming said portions concave in shape, transversely, as best shown in Fig. 3, for substantially the entire lengths of the intermediate portions 42 to provide sharp knife-like means 46 which bite into the wall surfaces of shaft 10 while the pump assembly and guard and guide are being lowered into the shaft 10. If the guard and guide are molded from resin, the means 46 may be formed by molding.

In the event there is any tendency by the torque and the motor within casing 28 to rotatethe guard and guide clamped thereto, it readily is conceivable that the resilient pressure constantly upon the intermediate portions 42 of the fingers will urge the same outwardly against the shaft walls and the knife-like edges 46 will soon cut into the casing walls sufiiciently to resist any further rotation, even though initially a slight amount of rotation may take place. Particularly if the fingers 38 are formed from stainless steel or other similar flexible and relatively hard metal, it will be seen that the knife-like edges 46 will be highly effective to achieve the function described above. Further, the concave formation readily may be formed in the intermediate portions of the figure by a simple stamping operation and such concave configuration also tends to render said intermediate portions 42 relatively stitf although the upper and lower portions of each of the fingers 38 remain flexible to permit the intermediate portions 42 to adapt themselves to the surfaces of the well shaft 10 in the manner described above, meanwhile urging said intermediate portions radially outwardly into firm engagement with said wall surfaces.

Should the submerged pump assembly or other unit secured to the lower end of the flexible pipe 14 require servicing at any time so that it has to be withdrawn from the well shaft 10, the inwardly and upwardly directed formation of the upper ends of flexible fingers 38 readily will permit such withdrawal to take place easily, in a manner similar to that by which the overall tapered formation of the lower end of the guard and guide permits ready lowering of the assembly into the well shaft 10.

While three fingers 38 have been illustrated in the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing and described hereinabove, it is to be understood that more than three fingers may be employed if desired within the purview of the invention. Further,

it will be seen that the shape and arrangement of the fingers 38 relative to the band 30 and the pump assembly element to which it is connected is such that a cagelike configuration is provided by the guard and guide of theinvention and the radial spacings of the intermediate portions 42 of the guard and guide particularly are such that an appreciable range of sizes of items to be submerged in a well may be supported between said arms and protected thereby, a well as being guided thereby during insertion in and, removal from a well shaft 10. The lengths of the arms 38 are also adequate to accommodate a substantial range of lengths of items to be protected by the guard and guide 16.

Even though the relative proportions of the guard and guide 16 as illustrated in the drawing are adequate to accommodate a reasonable range of sizes of submersible pump and well items to be connected thereto, it is also to be understood that a limited number of different sizes of guards and guides embodying the present invention may be manufactured in order to provide'a particular size which may be attached to substantially any type of conventional pump and motor unit or other well item to be suspended from the end of a flexible tube for insertion into a well casing. The provision of such limited range of different sizes would not unduly increase the manufacturing costs of such guards and guides to any extent.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the guard and guide embodying the principles of the present invention not only facilitates insertion of various motor and pump items, as well as other items supported by the end of a flexible tube when being inserted into a well, but such guard and guide also prevents relative rotation between itself or any item to which it is clamped, and the surfaces of a well shaft. The flexibility of the arms of the guard and guide permit engagement of the fingers with the walls of a well shaft regardless of said walls varying in diameter within a reasonable range or having substantial irregularities in said wall surfaces, while offering no substantial impedance to lowering or withdrawal of any elements to which the guard and guide is connected relative to the well shaft.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in itspreferred embodiment, and has included certain details, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A submerged pump assembly for suspension within a well shaft below the water level therein and comprising a pump and electric motor assembly connected to the lower end of flexible piping by which said assembly is supported vertically, said motor having a rigid waterproof casing enclosing the same, in combination with guard and guide means having circumferentially spaced flexible elongated fingers extending longitudinally of said assembly, a flexible and contractible band surrounding a portion of said assembly and arranged to be clamped to the exterior thereof detachably to fix said guard and guide means thereto, the normally upper ends of said fingers being spaced circumferentially around said band and fixed thereto, and means connecting the lower ends of said flexible fingers together at a point substantially in coincidence with the axis of said pump and motor assembly, the intermediate portions of said fingers being spaced laterally from the sides of said assembly and the lower ends of said fingers extending downward and inward into meeting relationship below the lower end of said assembly to provide a guiding point therefor, whereby the intermediate portions of said fingers are engageable with the walls of a well shaft resiliently and flexibly when said assembly and tubing are being lowered thereinto to center said assembly in said well and also conform to irregularities in the walls of the well and any variations in diameter thereof so as toprevent impedance of lowering of the assembly into said well, the engagement of the intermediate portion of said' fingers with the walls of said Well also being sufficiently frictional to resist rotational torque of said pump and motor assembly when operating, thereby preventing such torque from moving said assembly appreciably in a rotary direction and also preventing any appreciable axial twist in said flexible tubing.

2. The submerged pump assembly according to claim further characterized by the rigid waterproof casing of said pump being cylindrical and the clamping band of said guard and guide being detachably clamped thereto, the intermediate portions of said fingers being spaced laterally outward from said casing and the upper and lower end portions of said fingers permitting flexible conformity of said intermediate portions thereof to the Walls of said well shaft and also urging said intermediate portions into firm frictional engagement with said walls to prevent axial rotation of said motor casing and pump assembly relative thereto.

3. The submerged pump assembly according to claim 2 further characterized by said intermediate portions of said fingers having knife-like means extending longitudinally thereof and engageable with the walls of said Wall shaft to bite thereinto and prevent axial rotation ofsaid motor casing relative to said shaft.

4. The submerged pump assembly according to claim 2 further characterized by the said outer surfaces of said intermediate portions of said fingers being concaved transversely, thereby to provide elongated knife-like means at opposite edges of said fingers operable to bite into the walls of said Well shaft and prevent rotation of said pump and motor assembly relative to said shaft.

5. A flexible guard and guide attachable by clamping to a member of a pump assembly for a well, which member is adjacent the lower end of the assembly inserted lowermost into a well shaft, said guard comprising in combination a flexible split band having ends adjacent each other and arranged to be tightened toward each other to secure said band clampingly around said member, means engaging said ends of said band and operable to effect said clamping of said band, a plurality of flexible fingers in excess of two each connected at one end to said band at circumferentially spaced locations and extending axially in a common direction therefrom to form a cage-like configuration, the other ends of said fingers extending at tapering angles into engagement with each other, means connecting said other ends together to form a guiding point configuration for said guard, the intermediate portions of said fingers being substantially parallel to each other and spaced laterally outward from a member to which the guard is clamped, whereby .said intermediate portions of said fingers are engageable frictionally with circumferentially spaced surface portions of a well shaft to protect said member from engagement therewith and also prevent rotation of said member in an axial direction relative to said shaft.

.6. The flexible guard and guide according to claim 5 further characterized by said fingers being formed from flexibleflat strips and the ends thereof connected to said band extending outwardly and downwardly therefrom in normal use, the lower ends of said fingers which are connected together cooperating with said upper end portions to support the intermediate portions of said fingers flexibly for movement thereof substantially in radial directions to permit adaptation of said intermediate portions into gripping conformity and engagement with the walls of a well shaft regardless of varying diameters and irregularities therein.

7. The flexible guard and guide according to claim 6 further including knife-like means extending longitudinally of said intermediate portions of said fingers and adapted to cut into the wall surfaces of a well shaft to prevent axial rotation of saidguard and guide relative thereto.

8.. The flexible guard and guide according to claim 6 further characterized by the outer surfaces of said intermediate portions of said fingers being concave transversely, the concavity in each finger extending longitudinally thereof to provide sharp knife-like opposite edges on said intermediate portions adapted to cut into the walls of a well shaft and prevent axial rotation of said guard and guide relative thereto.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 751,596 Worsley Feb. 9, 1904 1,112,515 Baade Oct. 6, 1914 2,730,959 Brenner Jan. 17, 1956 

